Feb. 18, 2018
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Auburn swimming and diving teams closed out the 2018 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships with six more podium finishes on Sunday night, including an SEC Championship in the women's 400 freestyle relay and a pair of medalists in the men's 100 freestyle. The programs tallied a total of 16 top-three finishes over the course of five days, which included two individual titles and four women's relay podiums.
"I can't remember an SEC meet where we have been on the podium this much in a long, long time," head coach Brett Hawke said. "There were a lot of school records and what felt like 100 personal bests over the course of the week. There was a lot of great swimming and diving and I'm really proud of the way the whole team competed."
The women's 400 free relay was led off by Aly Tetzloff, who crushed a 47.39 leadoff split, making her the second-fastest women behind only Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace in school history. Julie Meynen followed with a 48.37 as Auburn held onto first after two legs. Ashton Ellzey's 48.50 split maintained the first-place edge before Erin Falconer brought it home in 48.38 to give Auburn its first 400 free relay title since 2012 and the 14th in school history.
Tetzloff completed her meet standing on the podium a total of five times, doing it three times as an individual and as a part of two relays.
"Aly is kind of the glue that holds this whole thing together and that leadoff leg tonight was just sensational," Hawke said. "She is just scratching the surface of her limits right now."
The men's 400 free relay followed the lead of Zach Apple, who's 41.64 split was his third career best swim in the event on the day and moves him into fourth on the all-time Auburn performances list. He was followed by Peter Holoda, who split 41.09, the fastest second leg in the field by .89 seconds to move the Tigers into first. Liam McCloskey (42.99) and Gonzalez (42.86) took the back half of the relay to finish second in 2:48.58.
As a whole, Sunday's final session provided plenty of highlights for Auburn.
Swimming the mile for the first time as a collegian, freshman Josh Dannhauser blitzed a 14:52.29 to finish eighth. His performance trails only former Auburn Olympian Zane Grothe in terms of performances in Auburn history as his time was the fifth-fastest ever recorded by a Tiger. His 8:58.96 at the 1,000 mark is the fourth-fastest ever recorded at Auburn.
"Josh was outstanding and it was really impressive the way he controlled the swim," Hawke said.
Falconer now stands behind only Kirsty Coventry in terms of the best backstrokers in Auburn women's history in the 200 after the junior clocked a 1:52.07 to finish fifth. She was just two spots ahead of freshman Sonnele Oeztuerk, who went a personal best 1:52.28 to take seventh an become the fifth-fastest performer in school history. Caroline Baddock finished 16th in 1:57.74 and Bailey Nero 22nd in a personal best 1:56.40.
Gonzalez grabbed his third individual podium finish of the meet with a third-place showing in the 200 back in 1:40.82. That bronze medal completed his set as he previously won the 400 IM and took second in the 200 IM at his first collegiate championship meet. Petter Fredriksson finished 15th (1:43.55).
Tetzloff found herself back on the podium following the 100 free as she took third in a then-personal best 47.96. The junior had finished second in the 50 free and third in the 100 fly earlier in the meet. Meynen finished seventh in 48.43 and Ellzey 20th in a personal best 49.11.
Holoda and Apple both took to the awards stand in the 100 free as Holoda went a personal best 41.78 to finish second and Apple a then- personal best 41.91 to take third. Holoda is now the fifth-fastest performer in school history. It was the second time on the awards stand for Apple as an individual as he won the 50 free on Thursday. McCloskey finished 12th in a personal best 43.39 and Santiago Grassi took 14th in 43.97.
"Holoda has been super confident this meet and he finally got to unload that in the 100 free," Hawke said. "It's nice to see him back to full strength and confident again. The combination of Zach and Peter together is going to be really good for us at NCAAs."
Alison Maillard tied for fifth on the platform, missing her personal best by less than 5.5 points on each list. Her finals score of 265.50 was just 2.70 points shy of her best from last year's SEC meet. For Maillard it was a third top-10 finish at the meet as she previously finished seventh on the 1-meter and 10th on the three meter. In two conference meets she now is a perfect 6-for-6 in top-10 finishes, with Sunday's fifth place finish the highest of her career. Erin Norton, who posted a career best 261.50 during prelims, finished eighth with a 229.20.
"Both girls did a great job," diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "We don't put a lot of emphasis on platform for Alison but obviously we are going to have to do more now. It was just a solid performance and it was great to see two women in the platform finals.
"Alison is very talented and we have a lot of room to further develop those talents," Shaffer said. "I see it every day. She just continues to work to improve her skill level and we are looking forward to a week-and-a-half of training and being a little sharper at the zone meet."
Spencer Rowe became the sixth-fastest performer in school history with the 18th fastest performance in taking third in his final and 11th overall in the 200 breaststroke. In the course of one day the freshman shaved 2.21 seconds off of his previous best.
Freshman Carly Cummings finished 16th in the 200 breaststroke in 2:13.18 after going a personal best 2:11.63 during prelims. Breanna Roman was 22nd in 2:14.37
As a team Auburn's women finished fifth while the men, hurt by a relay disqualification on Thursday, finished sixth.
"The whole conference is just incredibly deep and well coached and very competitive," Hawke said. "The future looks bright and we are excited moving towards NCAAs knowing we can be faster."
The divers will next compete at the Zone Diving Championships, which will be held March 5-7 at the University of Tennessee.
The women's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships begin March 14 in Columbus, Ohio, and the men's begin March 21 in Minneapolis.
SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" SUNDAY, FEB. 18
AUBURN RESULTS (PRELIMS/FINALS)
WOMEN'S 1650 FREESTYLE
25. Zoe Thatcher ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 16:44.65
MEN'S 1650 FREESTYLE
8. Josh Dannhauser 14:52.29 (PR)
27. Bryan Lee ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 15:24.07 (PR)
31. Grant Schenk ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 15:44.01
32. Russell Noletto ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 15:44.93
WOMEN'S 200 BACKSTROKE
5. Erin Falconer ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:52.43 (PR) / 1:52.07 (PR)
7. Sonnele Oeztuerk ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:52.83 (PR) / 1:52.28 (PR)
16. Caroline Baddock ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:55.60 / 1:57.74
22. Bailey Nero ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:57.00 / 1:56.40 (PR)
26. Abi Wilder ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:57.61 (PR)
28. Jewels Harris ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:57.98 (PR)
30. Sarah Margaret Cimino ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:58.05 (PR)
38. Annie Boone ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:59.90
MEN'S 200 BACKSTROKE
3. Hugo Gonzalez ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:41.43 / 1:40.82
15. Petter Fredriksson ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:42.38 / 1:43.55
34. David Crossland ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:47.93
36. Christian Ginieczki ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:49.97
WOMEN'S 100 FREESTYLE
3. Aly Tetzloff ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 48.09 / 47.96 (PR)
7. Julie Meynen ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 48.55 / 48.43
20. Ashton Ellzey ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 49.60 / 49.11 (PR)
25. Robyn Clevenger ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 49.65 (PR)
30. Jessica Merritt ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 50.07 (PR)
T44. Haley Black ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 50.77
MEN'S 100 FREESTYLE
2. Peter Holoda ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 42.17 (PR) / 41.78 (PR)
3. Zach Apple ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 42.40 (PR) / 41.91 (PR)
12. Liam McCloskey ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 43.42 (PR) / 43.39 (PR)
14. Santiago Grassi ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 43.93 (PR) / 43.97
33. Brody Heck ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 44.65
44. Owen Upchurch ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 44.99
51. William McKinney ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 45.51
WOMEN'S 200 BREASTSTROKE
16. Carly Cummings ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 2:11.63 (PR) / 2:13.18
22. Breanna Roman ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 2:13.34 / 2:14.37
27. Brooke Malone ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 2:14.44
MEN'S 200 BREASTSTROKE
11. Spencer Rowe ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:55.39 (PR) / 1:55.25 (PR)
26. Tommy Brewer ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 1:58.76
WOMEN'S PLATFORM DIVING
T5. Alison Maillard ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 263.05 / 265.50
8. Erin Norton ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 261.50 (PR) / 229.20
WOMEN'S 400 FREESTYLE RELAY
1. Aly Tetzloff (47.39-PR), Julie Meynen (48.37), Ashton Ellzey (48.50), Erin Falconer (48.38) ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 3:12.64
MEN'S 400 FREESTYLE RELAY
2. Zach Apple (41.64-PR), Peter Holoda (41.09), Liam McCloskey (42.99), Hugo Gonzalez (42.86) ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 2:48.58
WOMEN'S FINAL TEAM SCORES
1. Texas A&M 1319
2. Georgia 1030
3. Tennessee 950.5
4. Kentucky 877.5
5. Auburn 770
MEN'S FINAL TEAM SCORES
1. Florida 1237
2. Texas A&M 994
3. Georgia 975.5
4. Tennessee 899
5. Missouri 794.5
6. Auburn 791.5